Moving Maryland Forward Network

Finally!!! Governor O’Malley called a special session to begin on Monday, May 14th. The Maryland House of Representatives and Senate will convene to fix the Maryland budget so we don’t have to suffer through the doomsday budget.

This morning I awakened to the news that North Carolina had passed a state Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. My heart broke. This is the state that my parents hail from, as well as so many of my family members.

Although many things were accomplished this legislative session, it ended on a sour note with a race to the finish and no compromise made on the budget.  As a result, a “doomsday” budget will go into effect on July 1st.  This budget does not raise revenues in the form of income taxes and therefore includes over $500 million in cuts.

O’Malley has announced that he will call a special session once the House and Senate reach a consensus. He even said he would have liked to have called the session “yesterday.” I had been wondering why he had been silent on the issue, but I never thought that he wasn’t going call a special session because based on what I’ve seen this year, O’Malley is not about to let us face the doomsday budget. 

One of the things I remember from my American Government class in college was the definition of politics as “who gets what, when, and how”.  This simple definition (that I attributed to the cute grad student who taught the class, but is actually by the political scientist, Harold Lasswell) has stayed with me since then.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about what would happen if we allowed a “doomsday” budget.Unfortunately, we are closer to facing tremendous budget cuts than ever before because the House and Senate have failed to come to an agreement. Unless O’Malley calls a special session for the House and Senate to reconcile their budget plans, Maryland will face its largest education cuts in years. As the Maryland Budget & Tax Policy Institute said, it is a “budgetary train wreck.” I’m disillusioned and disappointed in our elected officials’ failure to protect our investments in education, health care, law enforcement, and many other essential services.

Single mother Franora Gray and her 4-year-old daughter Hylah Frances, a first year Ellicott City Head Start student, are reaching for the stars despite down to earth concerns. That’s just what the comprehensive school-readiness program aims to foster. “From the time I pick her up at the bus stop until she goes to bed, she sings songs and talks a mile a minute about daily school trips. They ‘travel’ all over the world through reading – they even took a trip to the moon when they studied space exploration.” Adds Ms. Gray, “She is learning far more in Head Start than what I’m able to teach her at home.” And the benefits don’t end there: Head Start promotes school readiness by offering educational, health, nutritional, and social and other services to enrolled children and families. Ms. Gray struggles to care for her family because of unemployment and chronic health problems.

When I think about problems that young children encounter, one that does not make my list is being arrested at school and held for almost 12 hours at a police station.  However, this scenario happened in the neighborhood of Morrell Park in Baltimore just over a week ago.  Two eight year old girls, and one nine year old boy were arrested at school for assaulting other students.

Ask Natasha Pilgrim –help at the right time can be crucial. Howard County’s Community Action Council (CAC) gives people short-term funds in emergencies, and Ms. Pilgrim is one of their thankful recipients. A single mother of 3 sons, during the Great Recession Ms. Pilgrim was laid off from her IT job. For the thirteen months she was unemployed, the bills kept coming. On the verge of losing her home and with the power about to be turned off, CAC stepped in and gave her energy assistance, weatherization, and access to Head Start for her youngest boy. “I am grateful I could rely on CAC in our time of need,” she says. “They cleared up a large balance on my electric bill, and reduced my budget billing. It has made a tremendous difference to have an affordable bill that I can pay on time.”

Wow.  In only three months....

As the Moving Maryland Forward Network (MMFN) begins our fourth month of existence, it is because of people like you that we have been able to become a significant new progressive voice in Maryland.

Your commitment and partnership with us has helped make Moving Maryland Forward Network a success.

THANK YOU!

Since January 2011, we have launched four important campaigns on behalf of our members: